THE PUPIL
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I divide people into four categories: Old Testament people, New Testament people, the righteous, and pupils. I use these terms for lack of other more fitting words and because they arouse in men familiar images and ideas. These words express four great epochs in the development of man, four kinds of culture, four general group trends in human consciousness. You will find in the Old Testament the kind of views held by the Old Testament people. *
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You will find in the New Testament the views of the New Testament people. You may learn the conceptions of the righteous if you study our contemporary culture. The righteous are men of an established order of rights. But if you look for the path of the pupil, you will find it neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament, neither in the scientific nor the ethical systems of the present world. *
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The path of the pupil - this is the new concept that is being introduced today into the life of humanity. *
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In order to give a conception of the attitudes of these four categories in the world, I will give you the following explanation. First, you are an intelligent being whom the supersensible world sends to earth, giving you a body without asking you whether you want it or not. That is the attitude of the Old Testament man. Second, you are sent to earth, you are given a body, and you have the small amount of freedom to say where you want to go. This is the attitude of the New Testament man. Third, you are sent by the supersensible world to earth to study under the most favorable conditions, and you have, comparatively, greater freedom. This is the attitude of the righteous man. In the Old Testament life, you atone for your sins and suffer. In the New Testament life, you try to perfect yourself. In the life of the righteous, you help others, but when you come to the earth as a pupil, you begin to study the great science of Love. *
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In the life of Love, a man is truly self-determining, and at the same time he determines his relations to other men, and to the perfected beings. *
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All contradictions existing in the world derive from these four types of life, these four general streams that operate in the world. Applied to the human organism, they have the following correspondences: Old Testament life flows in the stomach and the intestines; New Testament life flows in the lungs and the sympathetic nervous system; the life of the righteous flows in the lower layers of the brain; and the life of the pupil flows in the upper layers of the brain. This last occupies the best place. Therefore, the life of the pupil represents the highest ideal in man. *
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Many have tried to reconcile these streams of life, to eliminate the contradictions which arise as a natural consequence of them. But the results of these four types of life are in themselves not reconcilable. These streams cannot be isolated immediately. Their isolation or better, their full control, takes place gradually. It is attained only when the life of the pupil comes to its completion and attains its high goals. *
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The life of the pupil includes the values of all the four types of life, because these types of life in themselves are phases through which man must necessarily pass. The Old Testament people prepare the way for the New Testament people, and these prepare the way for the righteous, and the righteous prepare the path of the pupil, and the pupils prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth - to them belongs that difficult task. And when a man passes from the Old Testament life into the life of the New Testament, he takes with him everything of value from the former into the latter. Later, when he passes from the New Testament life into the life of the righteous, he takes into this third life everything of value from the second. Finally, everything of value from the life of the righteous is taken to the life of the pupil. In this way an inner connection is established among all people, an inner unity above and beyond the contradictions which are inherent in these four types of life. *
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The sources of these four types of life are various, and the conditions under which they develop differ. The pupil, after passing through all these four types of life as through a preparatory school, enters into entirely new conditions and draws life and strength from a new source. Christ spoke of this source when he said, "When the Spirit of Truth is come, he will teach you all things." *
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Once man enters on the path of the pupil, he assumes a new outlook on life entirely different from the conceptions of the Old Testament and New Testament people, and from those of the righteous as well. All men from these three categories still live only in the sphere of personal life - they do not yet live for the Whole. *
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Old Testament men seek wealth and property. They become embittered by the difficulties of life. *
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New Testament men seek sympathy and tenderness. The difficulties and sufferings of life make them hesitant and discouraged, and lead them into temptations. *
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The righteous seek honor and esteem. Contradictions hurt them and offend them. They have climbed to the highest peaks of personal life, and that is why they are so sensitive concerning their personal dignity. In everything they do, they seek acknowledgment, esteem, and honor. *
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Only the pupil seeks neither external wealth, nor sympathy and support, nor honor and esteem. Only the pupil does not become embittered, offended, or tempted. He gladly accepts the contradictions he meets in life, because he knows that they are the inevitable results of the four group streams of life. He accepts every contradiction as a problem of importance which he must solve. *
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He thinks and acts in this way, because he has passed through self-renunciations. He has set foot on the path of the pupil after he has rejected the life of the Old Testament man, the life of the New Testament man, and the life of the righteous. *
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Therefore, I say to you: Only the pupil learns; others simply occupy themselves. *
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Ordinary people fight one another, criticize one another, and moralize with one another. The pupil never criticizes anyone, nor does he moralize with anyone. He does not occupy himself with the mistakes of others. They do not exist for him. For him exists only the right way to live - the life of Love. For the pupil, God is not the Jehovah of the Old Testament who judges and punishes people. For him, God is the God of Love, of Light, of Peace, and of Joy. These are also the qualities of a pupil. *
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And if you ask me what the ideal of a pupil is, I shall reply: *
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Love, Light, Peace, and Joy for all souls! This is not an ideal to be attained in eternity. It can be attained even now. I speak not of Wisdom and Truth - another epoch will come for them. They are not for the present age. At this time, pupils need Love, but not without light; they need light, but not without peace; they need peace, but not without joy. They need Love with light, light with peace, and peace with joy. All these are connected with one another. *
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Present-day people have within themselves neither peace nor joy For that reason, when men of religion or of science speak of their experiences, their deductions and conclusions are ordinary and temporary. *
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When a pupil tells of a personal experience, it must be an experience of Love in which there is light; it must be an experience of light in which there is peace; it must be an experience of peace which brings joy to the soul. *
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The Love, the Light, the Peace, and the Joy of which I speak are not manifested in modern life in the lives of ordinary people. They are attributes of the pupil. Pupils are the only channels of these powers, they are their only interpreters in life. *
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Of course, I only touch upon those great realms into which the pupil enters. In truth, they constitute a great and vast science for the study of which ages of time are necessary. *
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Love is a beautiful, boundless world. It is a great thing for man to experience love in its developing and unceasing manifestations, beginning with the physical world, passing on to the spiritual and reaching to the Divine world. *
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A great thing it is for man to experience Light in all the forms which it creates. A great thing it is to experience Peace, to experience Joy. *
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These are realms through which the pupil must pass, which he must experience and investigate on his path, until he reaches the completion of his life as a pupil and begins to study thoroughly the great path of a Master. *
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Then at last he will attain that deep understanding of life, that deep understanding of the Love that operates in the world, the understanding of the reasons which cause the Great Masters to come down and work among men. *
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Love, Light, Peace, and Joy are fruits of the Divine Spirit. The pupil must be nourished by those fruits. The first fruit which he tastes is Love. The pupil must, without fail, taste of this fruit, because it contains eternal life. *
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And he who wishes to find eternal life - the life that flows from Love - must return to the tree of life. He must forsake the ways of the Old Testament man, of the New Testament man, and of the righteous, and follow the path of the pupil. *
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You know the words of Christ: "Go, sell all you have, and give it to the poor, and come, follow me." And I say to you: "Go and give away the life of the Old Testament man, give away the life of the New Testament man, give away the life of the righteous, and then go to your Master! He will welcome you." *
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A Master has four great pupils in the world whom he loves best. And if these four pupils recommend you to him, he will accept you in his school. If Love recommends you to your Master, if Light recommends you, if Peace and Joy recommend you, he will accept you. He will open wide for you the doors of the school, he will bless you and acquaint you with the other pupils, and thereafter you will be a pupil of your Master. *
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But beware of going to your Master before you have given away your Old Testament and New Testament treasures, and your wealth of the righteous. If you go to him with all of the trifles and adornments belonging to those three types of life, if you go with all of your righteous dignity, the Great Master will only smile and close the door of the school to you. *
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A pupil must have only one comprehension of life. He who wishes to be a pupil must have only one conception about things. *
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A pupil may have only one Master in life. *
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Remember this great truth: *
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There is only one Master in the world and all masters have come from him. *
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There is only one Pupil in the world, and all pupils come from him. *
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The pupil must know that he can be loved only by him who teaches him - his Master. And the pupil can love only him who teaches him. Only the immortal is to be loved - only that which never loses its beauty, its intelligence, its kindness and goodness. *
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You may ask what are the first steps on the path of the pupil? *
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The rule is - the pupil must begin with love. Then he will proceed to light, and after that to peace and at last to joy. *
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The pupil will bring joy to his life as a solution to his problems. I speak not of the joy that is changeable, but of the joy of the pupil upon which nothing can cast a shadow, and which is never exhausted. That joy is the highest peak in the material world. No cloud can cover that peak, and the divine sun always shines on it. Never are there any storms on this peak - there reigns love, there reigns light, there reigns peace. *
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This is the natural path of a pupil: love, light, peace, and joy. A man might travel over all the world, he might knock on the doors of all schools, he might look for all the great Masters who bring the Divine Word, and they will all indicate to him this path. They all have the same divine idea about the path of the pupil which cannot be changed. *
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Everywhere he will be told that the first step in the life of the pupil is Love. When he begins to apply Love, the gates of his mind will be opened and the knowledge of past ages, as well as the knowledge of the present and the future, will begin to stream into him naturally. *
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Indeed, there is a greater path than that of the pupil, but only after a man reaches the end of the path of the pupil, will the great path of the Masters be opened before him. It is the path of Wisdom, which is the most difficult of all. *
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Love, light, peace, and joy - these are the stages on the path of the pupil. *
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When I speak of the pupil, I have in mind the ideal pupil. This pupil studies in this world and in the world of the unseen as well. He never leaves school - during the day he studies in the laboratory of the earth, and during the night he goes to his Master who teaches him theories. The next morning he returns to the earth in order to continue his practical work in the laboratory. *
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The ideal pupil knows that he is always a pupil - that he has been, is, and always will be one. And in the future, when the earth and the whole solar system finish their evolution, he will become a pupil in another, a greater school. Then he will have another name. The word "pupil" is too weak to express the profound idea hidden in this conception. In a more narrow sense, the word "pupil" implies one who studies here on the earth, in this restricted circle of life. He studies here, and will learn as much as the conditions of earthly life permit. He does not yet have a conscious connection with the supersensible world - when he goes to sleep in the evening, his conscious pupilage stops. Therefore, the "pupil", in the true sense of the word, is one who has already had real experience in the spiritual world, who has conscious connection with it. *
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The life of the pupil, after his consciousness is awakened, becomes a life of creation and of work - not a life of grace. Through grace he became a pupil, but now labor, effort, and work are required from him. A pupil will be tested and weighed for a long time before he is accepted into the kingdom of God. If he is found the least bit wanting, he will immediately be sent back. *
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Entrance into the kingdom of God depends on the knowledge and the wisdom of the pupil, and not on his love. One cannot enter the kingdom of God through grace. *
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Christ tells us what is required of the pupil in order to enter the kingdom of God and to obtain eternal life: "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." The knowledge of God and of Christ is the condition for attaining eternal life. Only through this knowledge is eternal life attained. If knowledge does not bring eternal life, then it is of no use. *
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But in order to attain this, the pupil must learn to create as God creates. *
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How? In the first chapter of Genesis a symbolic picture is given of that process of creation which begins within the pupil after his consciousness is awakened. *
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Before that, however, the pupil will enter into the great silence, in which there is neither sound nor light. Then, from the depths of his soul he will call to the Unseen, Unknown God of Eternity, the Creator of all. He will call to Him with all his soul, with all his spirit, with all his mind and with all his heart, and he will say, "Lord, I wish to know You. You are the one Creator of all, and beside You there is no other God!" And if the pupil calls on God with that fullness, from somewhere in space, a small, microscopic light will shine forth and give him such joy that at once he will forget all of his suffering and sorrow. And from afar he will hear the voice of God, his Master, saying to him, "You wish to know me and to test me - be prepared, then, for work. This is the first day of your life. Your earth is unorganized and barren; darkness is over the deep. Separate the light from the darkness and begin to organize your earth. Say, 'bet there be light!'" *
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And if the pupil is one of the chosen, he will say, "Let there be light !" and within him there will be light. *
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"Let there be light!" - this is the great aspiration to learn which is in the soul of the pupil. *
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Then the great days of creation will succeed one another in the life of the pupil, and he will begin to construct his universe under the skillful guidance of his Master. *
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"Let there be light!"
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Peter Deunov (Beinsa Douno)
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http://www.beinsadouno.org